GENEVA - A new international treaty on trademarks, to be known as the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, was adopted on March 28 by member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
According to a press release by WIPO, this treaty is the successful outcome of the Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of a Revised Trademark Law Treaty, which was held March 13-28, in Singapore.
The new treaty concludes efforts by WIPO's member states to update the 1994 Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) and bring it in line with the technological developments of the past decade.
The last Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) was concluded in 1994 with a view to streamlining and simplifying, on a worldwide basis, administrative procedures relating to national and regional trademark applications and the maintenance of trademark registrations.
"The Singapore Treaty, as the first international treaty in the field of intellectual property in the new century, reaffirms the importance of trademarks, one of the major forms of intellectual property, in promoting domestic and international trade and in enhancing enterprise development and consumer confidence," WIPO Director General Dr. Kamil Idris noted.
"The revised Trademark Law Treaty will contribute to enhancing legal security for intangible assets as member states commit to adopting simplified and internationally harmonized administrative rules for trademark protection," he added.
Member states will benefit from the Singapore Treaty, as it will improve the international environment for trade and investment. It will enable national and regional trademark administration authorities to benefit from simplified procedures, including electronic means of communication. This will contribute to reducing procedural transaction costs and enhance confidence in the trademark system as well as to provide additional incentives for business to further invest and expand.
Registration formalities on the representation of all types of marks, including visible signs (and certain forms of visible signs, such as hologram marks, color marks, position marks or motion marks) as well as non-visible signs, provisions on the recording of trademark licenses, relief measures when certain time limits have been missed, and the establishment of an assembly of the contracting parties are further new elements of the news treaty.